The State of Disunion:President Trump insulted his Democratic opponents at lunch then called for political unity last night.

  He said in his State of the Union message, “We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution, and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise, and the common good.” 

  At lunch earlier in the day he trashed a list of Democrats to reporters.

  On Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts: “I hope I haven’t wounded Pocahontas too badly,” he said. “I’d like to run against her.”  

  On NY Senator Chuck Schumer: “Schumer can be a nasty son of a bitch.”

  On the embattled Virginia governor, Ralph Northam: “Did you see that news conference?” Trump asked. “Could you believe it? He choked like a dog.”

 And he took a shot at the late Senator John McCain: “He wrote a book and the book bombed.”

  In his speech, the President hit hard on illegal immigration and his insistence on a border wall.  He said, “In the past, most of the people in this room voted for a wall. But the proper wall never got built. I will get it built.”

  He added, “This is a smart, strategic, see-through steel barrier — not just a simple concrete wall.”

  The President promised to defeat AIDS, rebuild America’s roads and bridges, and rebuild the military. He didn’t mention the rocketing federal deficit. Trump took credit for just about everything good happening in America and the world. He said the US would be at war with North Korea if he were not President.

  He made almost no reference to the spate of congressional and criminal investigations surrounding his administration. “An economic miracle is taking place in the United States,” he said, “and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations.”

The Dissent:In the Democratic reply, Georgia’s unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams focused on voting rights and vote suppression.

  “Let’s be clear: Voter suppression is real,” Abrams said, speaking from Atlanta. “From making it harder to register and stay on the rolls to moving and closing polling places to rejecting lawful ballots, we can no longer ignore these threats to democracy.”

  Abrams is the first black woman to deliver the opposition reply. The trouble with this format is that the opposition has to write its speech before hearing the president, so it can’t be a direct response to what the President said.

The News Roundup:Sen. Elizabeth Warren apologized yesterday for claiming over a period of 20 years that she’s part American Indian. She’s trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube. “I can’t go back,” Warren said in an interview with The Washington Post.“But I am sorry for furthering confusion on tribal sovereignty and tribal citizenship and harm that resulted.” —Pope Francis acknowledged that priests and even bishops have sexually abused nuns in the Catholic church. — An Alabama police officer who shot and killed the wrong man in a shopping mall last Thanksgiving will not be charged. During a shooting incident the officer shot a man who was responding to the shooting carrying a licensed gun — After 79 reported cases of measles, the state of Washington has declared a health emergency. Most cases are among children whose parents do not believe in vaccination. — A 24-year-old Texas man died after his vape pen blew up in his face, severing an artery.

The Obit Page:  Albert Dunlap, the business executive who earned the nickname “Chainsaw Al” for firing thousands of employees of companies he ran in order to save money, has died at age 81. 

  Dunlap fired 11,200 workers from Scott Paper and 6,000 from the Sunbeam appliance company.

  He once told The South Florida Sun-Sentinel,“Sure, people had to get fired, but as time goes by that company will grow and prosper and new jobs will be created.” — Julie Adams, the actress who played the terrorized swimmer seized by the “Creature from the Black Lagoon” in the 1954 cult classic, died at age 92. — Izzy Young whose Greenwich Village shop, the Folklore Center, was the center of the midcentury folk music revival, died on Monday at home in Stockholm at age 90. He presented Bob Dylan’s first New York concert in 1961.

Finish Line:American skier Lindsey Vonn, one of the greatest ever, crashed yesterday during the final run of her career at the World Championships in Are, Sweden.Vonn’s knees have been seriously damaged in bad falls. The 34-year-old Vonn said, “I’m too old to be crashing that hard.”

The Darwin Report: A man in Colorado who was attacked by a mountain lion while trail running fought back and choked the lion to death. The lion, believed to be less than a year old, weighed about 70 pounds. The runner, who has not been identified, told authorities he heard something behind him and when he turned the lion lunged.  He was described as a man in his 30s who’s very fit. Very fit.

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